Below is a video created by a youth in Pakistan from the Chanan Development Association about HIV/AIDS. I have the honor of knowing (and calling them friends) the youth educator, Danish Samuel Sohail, and the program director, Sana Sohail. They are doing transformative work on topics of violence, HIV/AIDS, women's health, and more using street theater and media.

I met both of them at the Adobe Youth Voices Summit in August 2013. The Summit is a biannual event bringing educators and youth from around the world to create short, purposeful media. This past Summit, Danish was a part of my "house", and I got to know the work he and Sana are doing in Lahore, Pakistan.

As I listened, I was reminded of all the stereotyping and miseducation that happens in media. Pakistan is a country that often gets painted as a country of extremism in the mainstream media. It is a considered a place of conservative ideology, of radical Islam, of conflict and strife. And these media messages are used to pacify any negative reaction United States citizens might have regarding bombing Pakistan through drone strikes. The basic message is, "We are only bombing extremists, and they deserve it. See we are making the world a better place."

Let me be frank. No we are not making the world a better place through "strategic" drone strikes. Sana and Danish and all of the folks at Chanan Development Association are making the world a better place. They are using the power of creativity to transform conversations and community. They are using media to reshape narratives. They are, as Martin Luther King Jr would say, creative extremists.

Take a look at this piece of media (mentioned above) from Chanan Development Association titled "60 Seconds".

This simple, effective media brings into clear focus the issue of HIV/AIDS. It directly confronts myths about HIV/AIDS and shatters them through a clear and simple delivery. And Aden Eliasib Gill as messanger helps people hear the message. He immediately draws you in and makes you pay attention. He humanizes the "other".

This past weekend, All Saints church in Peshawar, Pakistan, was bombed by vitriolic extremists. The church has been a symbol of interfaith work and worship since the late 1800s. Sana, Danish, and their family attend this church. Over 85 people were killed and over 100 more severely injured.

Aden, the youth in the video, was critically injured in the bombing. So too were relatives. I was made aware of this tragedy by Sana and Danish's Facebook posts. Developments are still occurring, and I will update this when I know more. (Here is a link to an article in The Guardian that gives more detail.)

I share all of this because we must find ways to communicate and heal. We must fight the radical extremism that is occurring the world over. Rhetoric is continually being used to demonize the "other", to make the "other" less than. This rhetoric is being spewed by politicians, mainstream media makers, and fringe (which are not always all that fringe) religious leaders. It is being internalized by whole populations making it easier for individuals and militaries to bomb places of worship or countries deemed radical, to cyberbully so severely as to lead to suicide, to drastically and inhumanely cut food stamps to those in need because "they are moochers".

I am reminded of this MLK Jr quote, "The question is not if we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists."

Extremism is here, and it has been here for generations, centuries even. So the question now is not if, but what. We need the creative extremism of Sana, Danish, Aden, and Chanan Development Association. We need more of this type of expression and media. This is the type of work that heals, bridges, and opens. It is what enables us to find the humanness in the "other".

And we must be inspired by their work for we all have an obligation and duty to take a stand for our brothers and sisters who do not look like us and are being systematically terrorized by politicians, vitriolic extremists, and states.

So... my question to you, the one reading this post right now is: How will you honor the "other"? How will you use creativity to find and showcase our humanity? How will you transform vitriolic extremism into creative extremism?

And please keep Sana, Danish, Aden, and their family in your thoughts and (if you do so) prayers. They are requesting all the prayers they can get for speedy recoveries and healing in these times of tragedy.

This week I hold auditions for CAT's Got Talent, an internship program I am running at City Arts and Technology High School in San Francisco. My goal is simple: to train the next generation of creative extremists. Why? Because as Martin Luther King, Jr. so eloquently said, "The question is not if we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists."

We are living in a time where extremism is all around us. I regularly peruse news articles from around the US and around the world. Each day, the mainstream media puts out more and more articles that reinforce the notion that our world is become more extreme, more radicalized, more irrational. And these articles cloud perception and reinforce tropes of who is worthy and who is not worthy; they are used to justify horrendous inhumane acts and policies.

An answer to the ever polarizing press and inhumane policies is to train a new generation of creative extremists, the folks that see the world differently, cultivate creativity, and will go to extreme lengths to challenge and change perception. And that's exactly what CAT'S Got Talent is all about: cultivating and showcasing talent; AND learning some concrete, transferrable skills.

Over the next four months, I will be working with CAT senior (and 14 Black Poppies intern) Hilda Herrera to teach an event production and curation course at City Arts and Technology High School to four to six seniors that will result in a school-wide Talent Showcase in January 2014. Students will learn curation, production cycles, audience engagement, vlogging and blogging, event hosting, and marketing and outreach. These skills are crucial to cultivating creative extremists. They also just so happen to be incredibly employable skills.

The challenge facing students today is multi-faceted: How do we cultivate passions while also building employable skills? For far too long, education has bifurcated passion and employability. CAT'S Got Talent is an experimental response to this challenging question. It seeks to show young creatives that a way forward is to hold fast to core values while finding jobs that support them financially so they can continue building platforms on street corners, on stages, in schools, and in virtual space to showcase their talents and the talents of their peers.

And event production and curation is the perfect skill set for these young, creative extremists.

Recently, I had the pleasure of working for Adobe as part of their bi-annual Adobe Youth Voices Summit. I was the lead counselor, and I supported a team of counselors ranging in age from 20 to late 30s. This job, which was only one week, was creative, passionate, and paid well. I had to use all of my skills in creative extremism -- logistical planning, listening, creative content creation, clear and direct communication, and conflict mediation -- in order to be successful. And it was a HUGE success.

Thanks in large part to the Summit, I made enough money in one week of work to pay my bills AND to get seed money for 14 Black Poppies fifth season. And as 14 Black Poppies is all about showcasing creative extremists, the money I made goes directly to cultivating talent!

I want youth to have the same access and opportunities I have. That's what I hope to teach in CAT'S Got Talent, that is the change I wish to see in the world: employed creative extremists making enough money to also support their passions and values.

Stay tuned for more coming from CAT'S Got Talent, including our official INDIE-GOGO FUNDRAISER, which launches on THURSDAY, SEPT 12.

About the Blog

The 14 Black Poppies Blog is the place to find creative works, personal reflections, articles and various arts and wellness sundries that either inspire or are created by co-founders Jason Wyman and Margaret Bacon Schulze.